Page:Pictures of life in Mexico Vol 1.djvu/128

102 chemisette, and white satin shoes—was stooping fondly; while Joseph, also in gilded rays, and sombrero in hand, stood upright in the background. Curly sheep and very long haired cattle were ranged upon the straw at each extremity of the temple floor; and in the immediate foreground, five shepherds, with crooks and cups in their hands, draped quite unlike shepherds, were kneeling in various postures of devotion. This was the principal compartment of the model, and great pains had evidently been taken to render it full and complete; many of the wax figures were beautifully executed, though all had that unnaturally-new, garish appearance, generally to be observed in such productions.

The four remaining compartments—two on each side the principal—were equally characteristic. The most striking of these was a representation of the Massacre of the Children by Herod; in which the ruthless king was shewn seated on his throne, crowned, and raising a sceptre in his hand, as if directing the slaughter going on around him. Heaps of slain infants were piled up to the foot of the throne, by soldiers dressed in a fanciful admixture of drapery and armour; and women were